29/05/2006

French international sales agents at the Cannes Film Market have been keeping a low profile due in most part to the extension of negotiation periods to the weeks following the festival, but also to the lack of surprise titles to entice buyers. Nevertheless, besides sales by Films Distribution, who unveiled their results with pride (see article), several spectacular deals have been disclosed.

UGC has completed sales on The Stone Council [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Guillaume Nicloux, adding Portugal (Prisvideo), Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Argentina to its list of territories.

Pre-sales agreements have also been signed for Le héros de la famille [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Thierry Klifa with the Benelux countries (Les Films de L'Elysée), Switzerland (JMH), Japan, Argentina and Russia, as well as for Le Témoin by André Téchiné with Italy (01 Distribuzione), Benelux (Lumière) and Spain (Vertigo Films).

Prestigious sales were made to North American for TF1 International, who sold the promo reel of La vie en rose by Olivier Dahan to Picturehouse. The film charmed several buyers, including Constantin (Germany) and Icon (UK).

Meanwhile, Celluloid Dreams has negotiated sales on Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud with Sony Pictures Classics, who also bought Luc Besson’s Angel A [+see also:
trailer
film profile] from EuropaCorp.

Wild Bunch also did very well, with the Weinstein company acquiring Israel Adrián Caetano’s Cronica de una fuga, a title that has been sold in several territories. StudioCanal has had a busy market, pre-selling My Blueberry Night by Wong Kar-wai to fifteen territories.

Cineuropa will reveal further deals next week when the sales teams return to Paris and release their detailed reports.

(Translated from French)